...I'm not going to stand here and wait.
Yeah, I'm quoting Nickleback. Yeah, I hear they're poked at as being terrible now. Because they got to be popular I guess...? That seems to be the trend, isn't it? It's popular now, so it sucks. I dunno... overplay anything and it'll drive you crazy. Whatever, I still like their music... but that's not the point.
I tend to think back a lot to this concept. This "Hero" we're supposed to be waiting for. Part of me just wants to call bullshit on the whole idea. But that's the part of me that's always depressing, so I try to ignore that side when I can. I... seem to be having to do that a lot lately... umm... right... anyways, the other half still sees some kind of validity to the concept. That there CAN and SHOULD be a Hero. Or perhaps Hero"s".
But this waiting around for one to magically appear bullshit? I can't stand that.
I mean... how are we even supposed to know? How do we pick one runner from the lot and declare that this one guy is The One. He's got it all figured out. He's the one to beat this thing. (Or "She" by the way, I'm just using the masculine term for simplicity here.) Just what the fuck exactly is supposed to set this one person apart from the rest of us? What are we looking for? What's so special about this one guy? Why does he get to be the special one? What the fuck is taking so long for him to appear?
It's all just one big circle jerk of questions with no answers. It's pointless.
The fact of the matter is that no one is special. There is no great and powerful Chosen One coming to save us all. It's just us. We're all we've got. And we're all the same. We're the ones who will have to make that final stand or die trying. Quicker we come to grips with that the better.
Though, I suppose that isn't to say you can't look up to people. You can't look at a person and say "They're the Hero." or at least "They're MY Hero." It's always good to have someone to believe in... though it makes it harder on you when that person falls. Still, worth it while it lasts.
And I guess there is someone I've viewed for a while now as having that potential. That I'd look at and go "That's the Hero. It's Them. Always has been." Not gonna throw out names though. People have big enough targets on their heads without me painting bigger marks on them with fucking "Titles" or some other shit like that. So I'll just say, "Yeah, there's this guy I think could do it." End of story.
But there's one persistent problem. My Hero doesn't fight. He can't fight. And I'm pretty sure I know why. If we're gonna go along the line with this storytelling bullshit, then there's a very important element missing from the Hero equation. In order for the Hero to slay the Dragon... he needs a Sword.
And that's kind of always been our problem. It's not that we don't have anyone willing to stand up and fight. It's that the Hero doesn't have a Weapon...
Showing posts with label Heros. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heros. Show all posts
Apr 9, 2012
Jan 18, 2012
We Are Legion
You can claim I'm borrowing this topic from North is you want. I was commenting to him about it already though, so I get to claim a small bit of originality.
When I wrote my Solstice Story "In Memoriam" I knew I was writing a work of fiction. It was really the same old story that had been told a year before... I just added a few new elements that have popped up since then for an extra bit of supernatural flair. But regardless, the story is fiction not merely because it was a story that I made up, but because it was an impossibility to begin with. The fact of the matter is, no matter how united the runners and the fighters claim to be... they are not united. They cannot be united. Perhaps they are too selfish. Perhaps they are too scared. I don't know. Regardless, the fact remains the same.
And this is bothersome... because while certainly the simple idea the Solstice Story(s) suggest of throwing bodies at the problem until it goes away is... proooooobably a bad idea... it still remains that there is so much more we could be doing together as a group of that size than we could ever do alone. When speaking with North, I had mentioned in limited detail something from another story... in which a great dragon, powerful and wise as he may be, was overwhelmed by a swarm of rats. Certainly the rats were small, weak, and insignificant by compare to the dragon... but they possessed strength in numbers. Together, they were Legion. And the Dragon's bones were picked dry.
Now just think about that for a moment. The Construct may well be a god by some people's standards... but he's still only one creature. And us? Last time I heard the numbers, we were bordering on the edge of there being 7 Billion of us. That's 7 Billion Humans Vs 1 Construct. Now why oh why do you think he is so keen on keeping his existence concealed within the shadows? That he sends his Proxies to eliminate the ones he doesn't want? the ones that won't stop investigating? the ones that could expose him to the world? I can only reason that the creature is as afraid of us as we are of him. Certainly he holds the advantage over us by a wide margin. But hit something hard enough... hit it enough times... and eventually it will break. Do you really think, that if humanity opened its eyes and turned its collective fist against the Construct, that we wouldn't win?
But convincing the world is an impossibility. There are still people that believe the world is Flat. We're pretty much fucked at the concept of ever convincing all of humanity to share in any one single perception. But then... I really doubt that we need 7 Billion to do the job. 7 Hundred may well be enough... or even 70. Who knows? But I guarantee if enough of us truly banded together and put our minds to the task, then we'd find a way to beat this thing.
But once again, simply throwing enough bodies at the problem isn't enough. And nobody is going to sign on for such an obvious suicide mission. Several varieties of insects acting as a hive would gladly send themselves to die for the good of the collective when under attack by a greater predator... but human's are too individualistic to act in such a selfless manner. Not under normal circumstances anyways. Self preservation is typically more important to us. So we continue to act alone... and we continue to die alone.
There are two key factors which would be required to change this. One is proper leadership. Of which we have none. Certainly a few heroes exist amongst us who could perceiveably band together to unite us, but they seem reluctant to consider such lofty ideals. After all, the burden of every defeat must be carried by a leader. And surely, even among a group leadership... a Rule of Three, perhaps? ...the same issues remain. No one wants to carry that weight. But then, perhaps there are some who could carry the weight, but lack the renown or credibility to be entrusted with the task? It's always something...
The other half of the equation, is to have an effective means of assault. Without a weapon or a form of attack which can be utilized against the Construct, a gathering of this nature would be pointless. No one wants to fight a battle they know they can't win. Until a "weapon" is discovered that can physically harm the Construct, with effects that can be continually replicated, then any effort to unite the runners in an all out offensive strike would surely fail.
And yet even with these conditions met, I'm left to wonder... would the runner's ever truly unite in such a fashion? I look around and... I kind of have to shake my head. No offense guys but... we're just not there yet. And that worries the hell out of me.
When I wrote my Solstice Story "In Memoriam" I knew I was writing a work of fiction. It was really the same old story that had been told a year before... I just added a few new elements that have popped up since then for an extra bit of supernatural flair. But regardless, the story is fiction not merely because it was a story that I made up, but because it was an impossibility to begin with. The fact of the matter is, no matter how united the runners and the fighters claim to be... they are not united. They cannot be united. Perhaps they are too selfish. Perhaps they are too scared. I don't know. Regardless, the fact remains the same.
And this is bothersome... because while certainly the simple idea the Solstice Story(s) suggest of throwing bodies at the problem until it goes away is... proooooobably a bad idea... it still remains that there is so much more we could be doing together as a group of that size than we could ever do alone. When speaking with North, I had mentioned in limited detail something from another story... in which a great dragon, powerful and wise as he may be, was overwhelmed by a swarm of rats. Certainly the rats were small, weak, and insignificant by compare to the dragon... but they possessed strength in numbers. Together, they were Legion. And the Dragon's bones were picked dry.
Now just think about that for a moment. The Construct may well be a god by some people's standards... but he's still only one creature. And us? Last time I heard the numbers, we were bordering on the edge of there being 7 Billion of us. That's 7 Billion Humans Vs 1 Construct. Now why oh why do you think he is so keen on keeping his existence concealed within the shadows? That he sends his Proxies to eliminate the ones he doesn't want? the ones that won't stop investigating? the ones that could expose him to the world? I can only reason that the creature is as afraid of us as we are of him. Certainly he holds the advantage over us by a wide margin. But hit something hard enough... hit it enough times... and eventually it will break. Do you really think, that if humanity opened its eyes and turned its collective fist against the Construct, that we wouldn't win?
But convincing the world is an impossibility. There are still people that believe the world is Flat. We're pretty much fucked at the concept of ever convincing all of humanity to share in any one single perception. But then... I really doubt that we need 7 Billion to do the job. 7 Hundred may well be enough... or even 70. Who knows? But I guarantee if enough of us truly banded together and put our minds to the task, then we'd find a way to beat this thing.
But once again, simply throwing enough bodies at the problem isn't enough. And nobody is going to sign on for such an obvious suicide mission. Several varieties of insects acting as a hive would gladly send themselves to die for the good of the collective when under attack by a greater predator... but human's are too individualistic to act in such a selfless manner. Not under normal circumstances anyways. Self preservation is typically more important to us. So we continue to act alone... and we continue to die alone.
There are two key factors which would be required to change this. One is proper leadership. Of which we have none. Certainly a few heroes exist amongst us who could perceiveably band together to unite us, but they seem reluctant to consider such lofty ideals. After all, the burden of every defeat must be carried by a leader. And surely, even among a group leadership... a Rule of Three, perhaps? ...the same issues remain. No one wants to carry that weight. But then, perhaps there are some who could carry the weight, but lack the renown or credibility to be entrusted with the task? It's always something...
The other half of the equation, is to have an effective means of assault. Without a weapon or a form of attack which can be utilized against the Construct, a gathering of this nature would be pointless. No one wants to fight a battle they know they can't win. Until a "weapon" is discovered that can physically harm the Construct, with effects that can be continually replicated, then any effort to unite the runners in an all out offensive strike would surely fail.
And yet even with these conditions met, I'm left to wonder... would the runner's ever truly unite in such a fashion? I look around and... I kind of have to shake my head. No offense guys but... we're just not there yet. And that worries the hell out of me.
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